JiningWade-Giles romanization Chi-ningPinyin Jining, conventional Tsiningcityin , southwestern Shantung Shandong sheng (province), China. In early times the seat of the state of JenRen, it later became a part of the state of Ch’iQi, which flourished in the Chou Zhou period (c. 1122–221 BC1046–256 BCE). It underwent many changes of name and administrative status. The present name, Chi-ningJining, first appeared under Yuan (Mongol) rule in AD1271 CE. In early times the city was usually subordinated to Yen-chouYanzhou, about 20 miles (30 km) to the northeast, which was on the main road skirting the foothills of the T’ai MountainsMount Tai massif.

Although Chi-ning Jining may have been the terminus of a canal to K’ai-feng Kaifeng in Honan Henan province during the 6th and 7th centuries, its historical importance began with the opening of China’s Grand Canal under Mongol rule in the 13th century. Chi-ning Jining is situated on the canal northeast of the long string of lakes (Chao-yang, Wei-shan, and Tu-shanZhaoyang, Weishan, Nanyang, and Dushan) that made it a key crossing place linked to the road system of the plain to the west. It also developed into a major canal port, the immense commerce of which was mentioned by the 13th-century Venetian traveler Marco Polo, who knew it as Singui Matu. Its importance grew still further when, in the 15th century, sea transport from southern China was abandoned, after which all grain supplies to Peking Beijing were taken up the canal. Chi-ning Jining was a major staging point on the canal and served as a revenue-collecting centre for taxes on the grain from eastern Honan Henan and southwestern ShantungShandong. The city, which had huge granaries, was walled in the early 16th century and grew into a thriving commercial centre.

In the late 19th century, however, various factors combined to reduce its importance. The change of course of the Huang Ho He (riverYellow River) in the early 1850s created havoc on the canal, and the northern section beyond Chi-ning Jining fell into disrepair. The Ch’ing Qing dynasty (1644–1911/12) gradually abandoned its massive grain transport system and began importing grain for Peking Beijing through TientsinTianjin. A further blow came with the construction in 1912 of the railway from Tientsin Tianjin to P’u-k’ouPukou, opposite Nanking (Nan-ching)Nanjing, on a line following higher ground to the east. Chi-ning Jining was connected to Yen-chou Yanzhou by a spur line, but some of its wider commercial functions passed to Chi-nan Jinan in the north or to Suchow Xuzhou farther south.

Chi-ningJining, nevertheless, has remained a flourishing commercial and collecting centre for the region. Since 1949 the city’s importance has revived as a result of with the reconstruction of the Grand Canal, which has once more become a major traffic artery. It is also a road junction as well as a centre of traditional handicraft industries, producing farm implements, irrigation machinery, wooden and bamboo utensils, and other products for sale in the rural districts. The city also has a food-processing industry. Pop. (1990) 265,248.; the completion of a rail line from Xinxiang (Henan province) via Jining to Rizhao (Shijiusuo) on the Yellow Sea, which provides shorter passage to the coast for coal mined around that line; and the exploitation of the coalfields around Yanzhou and Jining, which has made this area a major coal producer in China. Pop. (2002 est.) city, 507,020; (2007 est.) urban agglom., 1,186,000.